Headlines

The European Commission has put forward changes that would “harmonise” some national rules around tax and insolvency as part of a much hyped plan to allow businesses to quickly incorporate a new company on an European Union-wide basis, The Irish Times reported. The proposal, drafted by European Union (EU) commissioner for justice Michael McGrath, is intended to make it easier for new companies to expand, and raise investment cash across the EU beyond national borders.

Officials overseeing the wind-down of Market Financial Solutions Ltd., the UK mortgage lender that borrowed more than £2 billion ($2.7 billion) from Wall Street backers, have obtained a worldwide asset-freezing order against owner Paresh Raja, Bloomberg reported. Courts in London and Dubai granted the order, according to a spokesperson for AlixPartners, the insolvency firm appointed by creditors to oversee the insolvency of MFS. MFS borrowed from Wall Street banks and investment firms including Barclays Plc and Apollo Global Management Inc.’s Atlas SP Partners unit.

The Trump administration has issued a 60-day waiver of the Jones Act in an attempt to lower gasoline prices that have surged since the U.S. and Israel launched a war against Iran, NPR.org reported. The Jones Act is a century-old maritime law requiring that goods shipped between U.S. ports be transported on U.S.-built and flagged vessels. Temporarily waiving this act opens up domestic shipping routes to foreign-flagged vessels, possibly reducing shipping costs and speeding up deliveries.

Financial markets are underpricing geopolitical risks, increasing the potential for sudden sell-offs, European Central Bank supervisor ​Claudia Buch said on Wednesday, as she warned ‌against easing bank regulations, Reuters reported. The U.S. has been loosening bank rules for the past year, putting pressure on regulators elsewhere as their ​lenders could face an uneven playing field if ​they did not follow suit. "These guardrails need to ⁠be maintained as geopolitical tensions rise," Buch said in ​the ECB's annual supervision report.

The Bank of Canada held its principal interest rate at 2.25 per cent Wednesday, but warned rising oil and natural prices caused by the war in Iran will push up inflation in the short term, BNNBloomberg reported. In its latest monetary policy decision, Canada’s top bankers painted a picture of a weaker-than-expected economy that is facing new levels of uncertainty because of the war. Canada’s economy is dealing with a lot. And now, we face more volatility,” Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said in his opening remarks at Wednesday’s rate announcement.

Canada's financial intelligence unit, the Financial Transactions and Analysis Centre (FINTRAC) pulled the registrations of 23 cryptocurrency service providers in a single enforcement action Tuesday, marking an escalation in the country's anti-money laundering efforts targeting digital asset businesses, Decrypt.com reported.

Elixir Labs, the issuer of yield-bearing tokenized fund deUSD, has launched a claims portal to return funds to lenders impacted by its exposure to Stream, Bankless.com reported. Elixir has committed to an approximately 80% recovery rate for users who lent against its deUSD and sdeUSD tokenized yield products through Euler and Morpho's lending markets. Eligible users in affected vaults and markets (as determined by a snapshot taken on or about November 2, 2025) can claim a pro rata distribution of recovered funds by agreeing to an Elixir-proposed settlement.

Visa and Mastercard can challenge a judgment that found their ​default multilateral interchange fees charged to ‌retailers infringe competition law, London's Court of Appeal ruled on Tuesday, in a long-running ​legal battle over the charges, Reuters reported. The Competition ​Appeal Tribunal ruled last year, in linked ⁠lawsuits brought by hundreds of merchants, ​that Visa and Mastercard's multilateral interchange fees ​breached European competition law.

Japan will roll out subsidies for fuel products from Thursday to cap gasoline prices — which have risen to all-time highs following the escalating war in Iran — at around ¥170 ($1.10) per liter, the Japan Times reported. The national average retail price of gasoline rose to a record ¥190.8 per liter on Monday, up by ¥29 per liter from a week earlier, the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy reported on Wednesday. The average price per liter for diesel and kerosene also rose to ¥178.4 and ¥154.1, respectively — both all-time highs as well.

Battered by Iranian strikes and the disruption of the Strait of Hormuz, the United Arab Emirates and some fellow Persian Gulf states have come to view Iran’s theocracy as an existential enemy. They now want the regime they once courted to be neutered, if not dismantled, when the conflict ends—so the ordeal is never repeated, the Wall Street Journal reported. The U.A.E. has borne the brunt of Iranian attacks: More than 2,000 drones and missiles have been fired at the country since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28.